The late-night firing a week ago of the State Department’s independent watchdog was, of course, yet another example of President Donald Trump’s aversion to accountability. But in the week since, it has also unearthed a series of concerning stories about the conduct of the very personwho pressed for the firing— Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

In the days after Trump notified Congress that he would be ousting State Department Inspector General Steve Linick, news surfaced that Linick had been investigating Pompeo for allegedly having a political appointee perform personal errands for him and his wife, Susan Pompeo, such as picking up food and walking the family’s dog. That same appointee, Toni Porter, was also the primary liaison between the secretary’s office and the department’s Office of Protocol when it came to setting up fancy dinners — paid for by the State Department — that at best blurred the lines between diplomacy and self-serving political activity and at worst represent Hatch Act-violating abuses of taxpayer money.

According to NBC News, which reported on the so-called Madison Dinners this week, the guest lists included more Republican politicians, corporate billionaires, and conservative media figures than foreign officials or diplomats. The guests’ names and contact information were sent to the private email account of Susan Pompeo, whose questionable role at the departmentwe’ve also been investigating. It is unknown whether Linick was investigating the dinners, but NBC reported that Linick had last week made an inquiry to the department’s protocol office, which runs the events.

It’s not the only instance in which Pompeo has been suspected of using his office for personal political gain. His tripsto his home stateof Kansasand his undisclosed stops tomeet with donorsduring official trips have drawn scrutiny and speculation about his future electoral ambitions.“It’s becoming increasingly clear that Secretary Pompeo is using the State Department to support his political career, and is using the position of secretary of state to collect a Rolodex of powerful people to support him for whatever venture he sees next,” said Austin Evers, American Oversight’s executive director,intheNew York Times.

American Oversighthas been investigatingPompeo’s potential abuses of office and whether and to what extent his political plans have mixed with his official duties. We’vesuedthe Trump administration for his external communications, and have alsosuedfor records of whistleblower complaints regarding his conduct — including related communications sent or received by Linick. On Monday, werequested expeditionof the release of those records in light of the reports of Linick’s ousting and Pompeo’s own involvement.

But as is so often the case in the Trump administration, that isn’t the only potential scandal that Linick’s firing has dredged up. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Eliot Engel also said that he had requested that Linick investigate the administration’s May 2019 emergency declaration that allowed the fast-tracking of $8 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates over the objections of Congress. This week,Politicoreportedthat Pompeo had disregarded the advice of top officials who had said there was no proper justification for declaring the emergency, and on FridayCNN reportedthat Pompeo had even pushed State Department officials to find a way to justify the move. The fact thatPompeo submitted written answersto questions but declined to be interviewed in Linick’s investigation of the emergency declaration indicates that he was aware of the inquirybeforehe pushed for Trump to fire Linick.

American Oversight beganinvestigating the fast-trackingof the arms sales last year, and we have sued for recordsrelated tothe involvementof former State Department official Charles Faulkner, who had previously been a lobbyist for Raytheon. And this week, we filed additionalFreedom of Information Actrequests for recordsrelated to inspector general investigations of Pompeo as well as related communications or meetings. Learn more about what we’ve been working on this week, including updates on our coronavirus investigation, below:

Emails Show SBA Official Sharing Resumes with the White House Official Spearheading Loyalty Purges:Trump’s efforts to rid the federal government of anyone perceived to be insufficiently loyal to his administration have fallen in large part to John McEntee, the director of the White House’s Presidential Personnel Office. Shortly after his rehiring in February, McEntee held a meeting in which he asked White House liaisons from cabinet agencies to identify political appointees and career officials deemed anti-Trump. We obtained records from the Small Business Administration showing Senior Adviser and White House Liaison Christopher Graysending two officials’ resumesto McEntee on Feb. 28. “Administrator [Jovita] Carranza asked that I share these resumes with you per your discussion earlier this week,” Gray wrote.Read more here.

Lawsuit for Records Related to Government’s Response to Coronavirus Outbreaks in Detention Centers:On Thursday, wesued the Trump administrationforfailing to release documents regarding the federal government’s response to the coronavirus and its impact on vulnerable populations in prisons and immigration detention centers. Those facilities are prone to disease outbreaks given the close proximity of the people within them, andaccording to the Bureau of Prisons, thousands of federal inmates and staff had confirmed positive test results for Covid-19 nationwide.

Barr’s Close Involvement in Investigation of Mueller Probe:CNN reportedthis week ondocuments uncovered by American Oversightthat show Attorney General William Barr met with U.S. Attorney John Durham immediately after Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian election interference ended. The records show Barr meeting multiple times that spring with Durham, who was appointed to examine the origins of Mueller’s investigation. “The Justice Department’s consistent, transparent machinations to favor the president’s associates make it hard to see Bill Barr’s heavy personal involvement in the Durham investigation as anything other than potential political interference to benefit President Trump,” said Evers of American Oversight.

Timothy Shea Out of Key Justice Department Office:Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Timothy Shea, who was at the center of the controversial decisions to reverse the sentencing recommendations of Trump ally Roger Stone and to dismiss the case against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn,will no longer head that division. Earlier this month, wefiled a complaintwith the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility asking the office to investigate Shea’s conduct, and weurged the courtto appoint a career prosecutor to take his place.

Ivanka and Jared on the Coronavirus:Since the start of the Trump administration, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner’s positions at the White House havebeen unclear, and their roles in the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic areno exception.Many questionshave been raised about Kushner’s volunteer coronavirus task force, including about the work of Rachael Baitel, USAID adviser and former aide to Ivanka Trump, who temporarily served as a supervisor on the task force. In this position, Baitel reportedly worked on supply-chain issues and prioritized tips on equipment suppliers that came from politically connected individuals. Wefiled a requestwith USAID for Baitel’s emails regarding coronavirus supplies, and also filed requests withOMBandUSTRfor communications with Kushner and Ivanka Trump.

Expired Vaccines in Detention Facility:Yesterday, wereported on recordsfrom the Texas Department of State Health Services that included an email saying that 39 doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine went bad in early 2019 when a refrigerator failed at an ICE-operated detention facility in Texas — the same time as a mumps outbreak was spreading throughout detention centers.

New Immigration Offices:In December 2019, the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman (OIDO)was establishedto address detention-related complaints. Julie Kirchner was appointed to serve as ombudsman, despite herprevious leadership roleatthe far-rightFederation for American Immigration Reform. And in February 2020, the Justice Department announced the formation of theDenaturalization Sectionto look into and litigate “fraudsters who illegally obtained” citizenship. We asked DHS forrecords concerning OIDO, including communications, organizational charts, directives, and Kirchner’s ethics documents. We also asked the Justice Department fordocumentsto shed light on the operations and policies of the new Denaturalization Section.

Flynn’s Security Clearance:Earlier this month, the Justice Department’s decision to drop the case against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty tolyingto the FBI,shockedmany. The case took anotherturnwhen the presiding judge effectively put the move on hold. American Oversightcontinues to investigatethe Trump administration’s political interference at the Justice Department, and last Monday wesuedthe department to compel the release of agency communications about Flynn’s case. This week, wefiled FOIA requestsfor Flynn’s security clearance forms, on which he would have been required to disclose hiscontacts with Turkish government officials.

IHS Sexual Assault Report:Lawmakers are urging HHS Secretary Alex Azar to release anIndian Health Service (IHS) reportthat allegedly highlights systematic failings that allowed an IHS doctor to sexually abuse Native American children. The doctor, who wassentencedto five lifetime terms in February, had been employed by IHS formore than 20 yearsdespite concerns about his behavior toward children throughout his career. Wefiled a FOIA requestwith HHS for the IHS report.

Amazon and Microsoft Fight over JEDI:Amazon and Microsoft areat oddsover the Pentagon’s lucrative Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud computing contract. Microsoftwonthe contract in October 2019, but Amazon contested the award,alleging misconductduring the bidding process. The Defense Department inspector general conducted a review of the allegations and made itsfindingspublic last month. Wefiled a FOIA requestwith the department for relevant records that were withheld from the IG’s office during the investigation.

Wilks Brothers Back Trump:According to reporting intheWashington Post,the Trump campaign has raked in new donors, including some who represent a class of long-time GOP funders who turned their backs on Trump in 2016. Among them are billionaire brothers Dan and Farris Wilks, who make their money in the fracking industry. The Wilks brothers have donated to right-wing groupsin the past(and supported Sen. Ted Cruz during the 2016 primaries), but this is the first time they are financially backing Trump and have so far given $100,000 towards his reelection. Wefiled FOIA requestswith multiple agencies for communications with the Wilks brothers as well as with individuals representing them.

White’s White House Role:In November 2019, the White Houseconfirmedthat Paula White — pastor,televangelist, and Trump’s long-timespiritual adviser— would be officially joining the White House as an adviser on the Faith and Opportunity Initiative. The White Houselater clarifiedthat White is a special government employee, meaning she is not required to file a public financial disclosure form. At the same time,she is also runningthe One Voice Prayer Movement, which promotes Trump’s policies. We want to know more about White’s position at the White House, and we asked the Small Business Administration forcommunicationsbetween specific SBA officials and White or affiliated parties.

ODNI’s Kash Patel:On Thursday, the Senate voted along party lines toconfirm Rep. John Ratcliffeas the new director of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). Before his nomination, Trump hadappointedRichard Grenell, U.S. ambassador to Germany, as acting director. Grenell brought on Kash Patel, a former staffer for Rep. Devin Nunes whoworked to discreditthe investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Wefiled requestswith ODNI for Patel’s calendars, travel records, and communications.

Voting Machine Numbers in Texas:In March, Texas voters facedexcessive linesduring the states’ primary election. Some voters waitedsix hoursto cast their ballots, and Texas lawmakersannounced that they would holdhearings on the issue. This week, a federal judgeruledthat all Texas voters can use mail-in ballots in the upcoming election because of the coronavirus, but questions remain about voting infrastructure in the state. Weasked multiple Texas countiesfor records concerning election operations, including the number of voting machines and ballots cast at different polling locations during select elections in recent years. The requests also seek information about the number of voting machines planned for use during 2020 early voting.

Absentee Ballots in Georgia:We want to know more about access to absentee ballot request forms in prisons, especially for detained individuals who have not been convicted of a felony or are completing sentences for misdemeanors. Wesubmitted records requeststo multiple Georgia counties, the Georgia secretary of state, and the Georgia Department of Corrections for communications, protocols, and directives concerning absentee ballot request forms, and also asked thesecretary of state’s officeand theDepartment of Administrative Servicesfor email communications about an urgent meeting held by the state’s election board toapprove the use of ballot drop boxesbecause of the coronavirus.

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